1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to security devices in general, and relates more specifically to a device that retains a locking pin in a bore so that the pin can not be removed from the bore from outside the secured premises unless a portion of the device is temporarily displaced from its at rest position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A search of U.S. patents that was conducted prior to the filing of this disclosure located the following patents in the field of this invention: Nos. 3,490,802; 4,190,272; 4,268,074; 4,293,154 and 4,400,027. None of these patents is pertinent to the invention as claimed herein. The most recent patent, No. 4,400,027, shows a device that requires the consumer to squeeze a key in order to remove a lock from a bore, but the device has no application in the environment of the present invention.
The environment of the present invention includes doors and windows that are lockable at least in part by a pin that is slideably disposed through bores specifically provided in the items to be locked and their associated frames or tracks. Sliding doors made of glass, commonly known as glass sliding doors or patio doors, are typically mounted on rollers in parallel tracks so that when the same are fully closed the right (metallic) frame of the left door and the left (metallic) frame of the right door enter into alignment with one another. Each frame has a bore formed therein so that a single bore extends through both frames when the same are aligned, and a pin extends through the bore to prevent opening of the doors in the absence of pin removal.
The doors may be secured in slightly different ways involving a pin. For example, opposing flanges on the track within which the doors "slide" may be cooperatively apertured to receive a pin which spans the track rearwardly of a door to thereby bar the rearward travel of the door. Moreover, such pins have utility in the context of certain styles of windows, and in such contexts the pins also extend through aligned bores to defeat unauthorized displacement of the closed windows.
Thus, the retainer pin employed in this invention and the environment within which the pin is used are well known. It is the means for retaining the pin within its bore that is the subject of this invention.
Burglars easily defeat the pins by simply shaking the sliding glass doors until the pin falls from its bore. In installations where the distal end of the pin is exposed to the outside, then the burglar need merely push the pin out of its bore to gain entry into the premises.
A pin retainer specifically adapted to prevent the unauthorized retraction of these well known pins does not appear in the art.